Got the wife a new SUV. She's. In an X5 now and I finally, after much contemplation and legwork, placed an order for a 13' X6.

Since I got my 911 I too have been bitten by the bug. I was pushing for the cayenne, but it's a very hard case to make. A V6 cayenne with the same options is $8,000 more for a car that is 2 seconds slower to 60. That's a monumental difference. The X6 will be a 6cyl with 315hp and will be on par with an S for acceleration. I thought I could sell the cayenne on my wife since its a much more feminine feeling car IMHO, but at the end of the day the writing was on the wall and stripping away options to make it work is the move of a badge obsessed buyer. Besides, Porsche's mediocre leasing sealed the fate of my idea anyway.

I'm sure we'll like the X6, the X5 has been a great car.

Happy motoring,
Dr.

 

Try a pre 07 cayenne. youll find nothing feminine about it. top gear had an episode about how much more "soft" the 957/8 cayennes were compared to the 03-06 cayennes. Clarkson even commented they were the soul of a 911 in terms of feel and power.

the X6 is a beautiful vehicle. the swept roof can be tough in the back seat for head room, if you have smaller kids, you'll be good to go.

cheers

 

I am having the same issue here. I see a decently equipped S with the options I want closing in on $90,XXX however, a fully loaded x5M is closer to 95,XXX.

The BMW is certainly the better value here. Is it a Porsche, absolutely not but I think I might just have to live with that...

 

If you can get past the looks of the X6, I'm sure it will be a fine car.

 

I was considering a sweetheart deal on a 12' V6 black/black with the 20 inch RS wheels and sport exhaust tips - in other words it looks the part.

I stuck with the X6. Granted the X6 was much more expensive, but its not in the same league honestly. The V6 was surprising strong around town, but somewhat athsmatic on the highway, whereas BMWs turbo 6 with 330 ft./lbs of torque from 1500rpms is fast in town on the highway...wherever. Also, and this is the one that kills me as a 911 driver - the V6 with no PASM or air suspension was downright scary on the highway. It felt like I could have gotten the car to roll over @ 85 mph by yanking abruptly on the wheel. The springs and anti sway bars (if it has any) were that soft. Great for soccer moms, not so much for fast drivers. The X6s' handling is superb. I opted to not get the adaptive drive (active anti-roll) this time to soften the ride up a bit (last X5 had it). Its classic BMW. Firm and excellent in corners and transitions, but with enough compliance.

Moral of the story - to compare a BMW SUV to its Porsche counterpart, you honestly need to add $20k in options to the Porsche for it to be a fair fight. I've been told at my local dealer that most of their Cayennes are dealer ordered and therefore panoramic roofs , PDCC etc... are rarities.

That's partly whats so great about the GTS - its setup the way all Cayennes should be {in my humble opinion}

 

BMW leasing is one of the best even though I don't like leasing . Combined with free service the BMW can compete in these areas . I am not an X6 fan though . I think the car is hideous on so many levels but as long as one is renting it (leasing) I'd opt for the x5 .

That said --BMW is the better value but Porsche is the better car . BMW is the car to lease . Porsche is the car to buy.

 

Totally agree. BMWs have more technology (for better & worse) which equates to more headaches in the long run. Porsche's are just straightforward. My 997.2 "feels" like it was built 10 years ago - which is a compliment - as quality gets sacrificed for technology with each passing generation of cars it seems.

Also, BMWs, like japanese sport bikes are updated every few years in a way that makes the predecessor seem objectively inferior. Porsches aren't that way. Lets hope it remains that way. I used to feel so strongly about BMW, but they have changed quite a bit in the last decade.

DRP

 

I think you made the right choice. I'm one of the few who think the X6 is one of the best looking vehicles out there...

 

sounds like a decision was made based on how you felt instead of your wife (and according to your post, this is your wife's vehicle).

nonetheless, grats.

 

I am finishing a 3 year lease on a x6 50i. There is a HUGE difference between the 35i (6cyl) and the 50i(8cyl twin turbo). Consider switching to the 50i even if you have to give up a few options to compensate for the difference. We loved everything about the X6, but as my kids are getting taller, the backseat in the X6 is becoming more uncomfortable for them. We are switching to a 2013 Cayenne GTS, but as you said the price is $25K more on a similary equipped Cayenne GTS. I will also miss the free maintenance on the X6.

 

TBH, free maintenance is nice but it's not a deal breaker IMO. While maintenance on Porsches are generally expensive but reliability of these vehicles are on par (or even better than) with Japanese vehicles (based on a pool of ~10 Japanese cars in past 11 years). No matter how "fast" X6 may be, I'd take GTS/Turbo in a heart beat.

 

First of all, congrats on choosing the X6. For what it's worth, in my opinion, it's the most beautiful SUV in the market - more so than my Cayenne V6.

We have been driving BMWs for decades and recently took delivery of an X5 50i in January (sport activity, adaptive drive, cold weather, tech, and all the bells and whistles). We also cross-shopped X6 in Dec at the same when we shopped for the X5. I agreed that X5 and X6 both come with tons of standard features that are optional on Cayenne (e.g., panoramic roof, four zone climate control and what not).

Even though both the X5 and X6 maybe priced higher on paper, with BMW's aggressive annual offerings (e.g., Mission to Drive, Owner Loyalty, optional credit, and finance credits) which usually begins in June through the end of the year, there are some very good deals and discounts to be had. My well-optioned X5 is actually cheaper out the door than my base Cayenne stripper, believe it or not. Then came April we took delivery of our CV6, and I noticed that I drove the P!G more and more for some mysterious reasons - which up until now I can only attribute it to novelty effect or perhaps I am a badge *****.

So after thinking and pondering long and hard and looking at these two huge trucks side by side every night, I painfully let the X5 go after three months of ownership. However, thanks to all the people who lease the BMWs, I got a not-so-bad cash price for the truck that had more than 5000 miles of driving. BMW SUVs are excellent cars - don't get me wrong. However, having currently owned and leased so many BMWs, I feel that BMW is beginning to miss the mark on the overweight X series and Lexus-like F10 5 series.

Moreover, I have a similar but opposite experience about X5's high speed stability, which is also one of the deciding factors that I let the truck go. Since I live in a hilly area in California and commute a total of four hours between work and home, the X5 was just plain scary in the high winds, especially during windy season. Since January, there were several occasions where I felt the X5 was almost going to roll over due to the strong cross wind - whewwww . I've had the dealership check the suspension, balance the tires, and set the alignment to no avail, spending several weekends to different dealerships that diagnosed it as the normal characteristics of the truck. Further, unlike a typical BMWs (e.g., E60 and 3 series) that cushion the minor road texture and absorb the major road bumps, the X5 and X6 i had test-driven just pass through all the vibrations - major or minor - into the cabin, along with all the little squeaky, clunky noise - please excuse me I might be exaggerating a little bit since I am a really particular about noises.

Another major deciding factor that i didn't jump right into an X6 right after I sold the X5 is the use of plastics for building the entire front-end of the X series. I am embarrassed to say that I have been doing research on X5 and X6 for years and even after such thorough research did I miss that the innovative technique they use to build the entire front-end of the truck with plastic sheet panels. Call this buyer remorse as you may but I was very surprised at my discovery. Well, there are so many negatives I could talk about my X, as this is human nature that we tend to see the negative when we lose interest in something. So I need to keep my mouth shut.

On a side note, today we had strong wind again (and some drizzle) and my stripped Cayenne with steel springs just scalpeled through the wind with unwavering poise. At appox. 90 mph on the toll road, the P!G just wanted to keep going while all other cars had slowed down.

Moral of my lesson, rather than getting two SUVs at the same time, I should've gotten the Cayenne in the first place and then get a M car or sports car if I wanted to have some fun.

 

X6 is not a great seller for BMW. You should get a HUGE discount. My neighbor has a white X6 M, looks huge and bulky (but clearly has guts). Looks like a Blowfish.. I would have NO space in my garage.

 

I personally love the x6's looks. So, you should consider it a win instead of a (for a lack of a better word) pseudo "compromise."